Ecclesiastes 1

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

² Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
³ What does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but the earth remains for ever.
⁵ The sun rises and the sun goes down,
    and hastens to the place where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south,
    and goes round to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
⁷ All streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
⁸ All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹ What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done;
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
It has been already,
    in the ages before us.
¹¹ There is no remembrance of former things,
    nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to happen
    among those who come after.

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight,
    and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

¹⁸ For in much wisdom is much vexation,
    and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.